The Hanoi police department, in collaboration with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment or ACE, has shutdown a network of video piracy websites connected to the Fmovies brand, according to an ACE press release. The network was reportedly receiving 384 million monthly visits, the organisation goes on to say.
Of note, this isn’t the first time an illegal streaming website has been shut down in Vietnam only to reappear days later under a slightly different domain name. Popular illegal streaming site Phim Moi has been shut down repeatedly since 2021 but is still alive and well. Likewise Fmovies appears to be back online already under a slightly different domain name.
As of April 2024, Vietnam remained on the Office of the US Trade Representative’s Special 301 Report which found that despite intellectual property rights reforms, there were still ‘serious concerns remain regarding IP protection and, in particular, enforcement’.
Protecting a firm’s intellectual property in Vietnam can, therefore, be a challenge. That said, an understanding of how intellectual property protection works in Vietnam may be key to ensuring a brand’s assets are properly protected.
See: How to Start a Business in Vietnam: Intellectual Property Protection